


My Blood-soaked Summer

by MothTale



Category: Free!
Genre: Blood and Gore, Dark Comedy, Funny, Horror Film AU, Multi, No Fluff, Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-29
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:45:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2380412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MothTale/pseuds/MothTale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Samezuka boys and the Iwatobi gang take off for a weekend in a lakeside cabin in the woods - unfortunately the area has a dark past and before the weekend is out Makoto and his friends will have to do things, terrible things, in order to survive to swim again.</p>
<p>An irreverent slasher AU in which bad things will happen. Read at your peril.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Blood-soaked Summer

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will likely be slow, so sorry in advance for cliff-hangers.  
> Also, working on my formatting, so apologies if it's a little off.

_You don’t know that for sure. You don’t know if he found him, if Haru’s really dead or just—_

A foot comes down on the floorboard. The sound runs up and down his spine like a spider. Surely they can hear him, can sense the movement in the air from his trembling? Surely the closet’s going to be the first place he checks? He must have seen the blood at least? Makoto tries to breathe through his nose, silently, but there’s too much blood clogging his nostrils. He unseals his lips. He can hear the sound of the water tapping on the floor. The floorboards creak again.

If he could lift his hand he’d cover his mouth, but he doesn’t dare move. The door is less than an inch from his face, his fingertips pressed to the floor in front of it. He’s hunched over, afraid to move back in case he brushes up against something, sends it clattering down and letting them know for certain that he’s in here trying to hide. If he could just be sure about something; that Haru’s gone, that there’s no one left and he’s on his own, that that freak knows where he is and is just dragging things out, maybe then he’d have to courage to lean forward and push the door open. He didn’t shut it, didn’t have time, just pulled it to. A nudge is all it would take to make things certain.

_But I don’t want to die._

Not like that, not like what happened to Ai. Like what they did to Nagisa. Or Rei. Or—

_I don’t want to think about it. I want—I want-_

Something touches his fingertips. He can hear the drip-drip-drip, feels the puddle spreading towards his knee, feels the water touch the gash on his leg. The cold stings, like it’s picking the skin off of him. He can hear the sleeve of their sodden coat, the one who killed them all, brushing the door and reaching for the handle. The water laps at his legs, pulling at him. It’ll be over for sure now. The whole damn nightmare.  


****

“What the fuck was that road? Feels like my ass is going to fall off. Jeez, Gou.”

Makoto looked round and saw Rin climbing out of his sister’s car, rubbing his backside with a scowl already in place.

“Well,” said Gou, slamming her door and putting her hands on her hips, “maybe next time you should drive yourself– Oh wait. You can’t, ‘cus you didn’t pass the test yet bitch.” She stuck her tongue out at him, jumping backwards when he tried to swipe at her across the bonnet of the car.

“Rin, at least you weren’t gripped by mortal fear for the last half hour,” Rei said, his knuckles still bloodless from gripping the car seat.

“Aww come on, I’m not that bad a driver,” said Nagisa, lunging at Rei and attaching himself to his sleeve. “I’m much better than before. We only scraped that tree because Makoto screamed at me to—”

“Hey! I did not scream.”

“Makoto, we heard it from our car. You screamed,” Rin said. Sousuke, Ai and Momo nodded. Ai looked profoundly glad that he wasn’t the one being teased.

“Yeah, well Nagisa was driving really close to the edge. I thought we were all going to die.” He was unable to keep the hysterical tone out of his voice, hating how squeaky it sounded. Nagisa looked sulky and hurt that no one had much faith in his driving, clinging to Rei and shooting sour glances at the others.

“Calm down Makoto.”  
Makoto heard Haru’s voice from beside him, spotting him standing there with his hands in his jacket pockets. He was the only one who didn’t look like they’d been bounced around in a hot, shitty car for the past thirty minutes, looking instead like he had just materialised up out of the landscape.

“How far away is this fucking cabin? I don’t see anything.” Rin was standing, peering off into the trees. They were at the end of the road, if the thing they’d been driving on could technically count as a road.

“Uh, Coach said it was a ten minute walk. Straight ahead,” Makoto said.

Rin muttered under his breath and then moved to the boot of Gou’s Fiat Punto. He grabbed his rucksack and slung it over his shoulder.

“I bagsie first shower!” Gou cried, darting forward past her brother and grabbing her own bag. She took off into the woods, the others following on her heels.

“Well I guess the weekend begins here then.”

 ****

“Is that it?”  
They’d all come to a halt, ankle-deep in fallen leaves. Ahead of them was a small, wooden building which had the look of a drunken treehouse. If it could see itself, it’d be wondering where the hell it was and how it got there because the last 24 hours were a blank. Makoto found himself cocking his head to one side, trying to determine if the place looked any more symmetrical from a slightly different angle.

“Well do you see any other building-like structures skulking around here? That’s it, it’s gotta be,” Rin said, shrugging and looking at the others. “Besides, look, there’s the lake right next to it.”

“It’s kind of small,” Gou said with a sigh.

“The house or the lake?”

“The house.”

“If you can call it a house,” Momo snorted, kicking at the leaves on the ground.

“We’re only here for two nights, what does it matter?” Sousuke said, shrugging and starting up towards the steps to the front door.

Makoto saw Haru looking off towards the lake, his fingers hovering over the top button on his shirt. It was not quite what Makoto had pictured, being somewhat greener, murkier and weedier than he had imagined. Perhaps that was why it was Haru wasn’t already stripping off and throwing himself in.  
A ripple formed on the surface, spreading out across the lake. Makoto felt a shudder run down his spine, like an icy finger. The hair on his arms stood up. He looked around, found his gaze held by the space between two trees, close to the water’s edge. Up ahead he could hear Rin cursing and battling with the front door. He jumped and let out an undignified squeak when Haru touched his arm.

“Ha. Take that dumb door.”

“Wow you’re such a great wit Rin, seriously. My brother the genius.”

“Rin, I think you broke the lock.”

“Well what’re we gonna need it for anyway? I highly doubt there’ll be robbers wandering around up here, and I doubt there’s any shit worth stealing in there.”

“Come on, let’s see how bad it is.”

“And if anyone finds any spiders give them to me. I’m gonna stick them in Gou’s hair when she’s asleep.”

“H-hey!”

The sound of laughter. Makoto looked round and saw them all gathered on the porch, filtering through into the house. Nagisa was looking at them, frowning faintly.

“What’s the matter Haru-chan? You’re not swimming…” he said, jumping down and steps and bounding towards them. His eyes travelled for a brief moment to the spot Makoto had been looking at, and for the slightest moment he seemed to hesitate. A shiver seemed to pass under his skin, but then it was gone and Nagisa was smiling as usual. The next thing Makoto heard was the splash when Haru flung himself into the water, turning the green water a scummier shade of brown as his body stirred up the thick mud on the lake’s bottom. It was not nice water. It was horrible water. It was the kind of water Makoto saw in his nightmares as a kid – the ones that would sometimes end with him wetting the bed. Maybe there was a way he could get out of swimming for the duration of the holiday. He could keep Gou company, but then again she probably wanted to be left alone to enjoy the view.

“Doesn’t that log out there kinda look like a body? Hey Mako-chan, look. See. Doesn’t it look like a corpse? It totally looks like a corpse.”

“Yeah, it kinda does I guess.” Makoto wondered if there was a nice, gentle way of telling Nagisa to shut up.

“Hey Haru-chan. Swim out to that lumpy log-thing that looks like a body. Check see if it’s a real log.”

It did kind of look like a body from here, one swollen and discoloured from too long in the water. The algae clinging to it might have been clothes. Makoto watched Haru glide towards it, moving without a care through the murky waters. He wanted to call him back, to stop him from going any deeper, any closer to the log.

“Couldn’t contain yourself then Haru?”

Rin appeared on the porch, his arms folded across his chest. “Are you two getting in too?”

It wasn’t an invitation, but for some reason Nagisa started taking off his top. Makoto looked at him and stepped back out of arm range, worried about ending up in the lake with him.

“I’ll drop your bags off inside,” Makoto said, picking up the two discarded rucksacks and moving further away from the lake.

“Hey…”

Rin looked at him when he passed him by. Makoto tried to smile. He thought he was probably doing it wrong.  
Rin looked even more worried.

“You ok?”

“Carsick,” Makoto mumbled, stepping past Rin into the house.

**** 

It wasn’t as bad as Gou’s face seemed to suggest. Sure the furniture looked like it had been knocked together by a troupe of one-eyed carpenters with Spartan aspirations, and it smelled like a public toilet, though the damp mostly covered that, but it was everything a building was required to be i.e. four walls and a roof. When Makoto stepped inside she shot him a despairing glance, clapping a hand over her nose and pretending to swoon. He noticed the others were standing around, being very careful not to lean on anything. The settee was untenanted. Makoto dropped the bags there, stepping back hurriedly as something scuttled out towards him. At least the lights worked.

“Well, no phone signal. There’s a surprise,” Sousuke was saying, slotting his mobile back into a pocket on his backpack. “Your coach certainly has a sense of humour, Iwatobi.”

“Hilarious…” Gou muttered. “Ugh, I can’t take this. I’m going to go check the bathroom. I need a shower. If I’m not back in ten minutes send a search party – the bugs’ll have got me.”

“I could come with you,” Momo said, closing the gap between himself and Gou, eyes sparkling with possibility.

Gou stared at him, almost going cross-eyed from how close he was. “Your brother must be so proud. There’s finally someone creepier than him in the family.” She backed away, slamming the bathroom door behind her. Makoto heard the lock slide into place.

“At least she didn’t call Rin to come beat you up this time,” Ai said, rubbing Momo’s shoulder lightly.

“You think maybe I have a chance then, after all?”

Ai paused, looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights. “Uh, I-- Stranger things have happened,” he said, trying to sound upbeat and just ending up sounding like there was a mousetrap caught on his balls.

“Thanks a lot Ai.”

“What? I was trying to be supportive.”

“The pursuit of the unattainable. A fine example of the stubbornness of man.” Rei pushed his glasses up his nose, smirking in that smug manner reserved for the contented in love.

“Nagisa’s outside in the lake by the way,” Makoto said, stooping to look at a dead beetle on the floor.

Rei frowned, his eyes going to the unopened rucksack on the sofa. “But he hasn’t got his--” The penny dropped. “Excuse me.” Rei ran out of the cabin, already undoing his shirt and pulling it over his head.

“Are they all out there skinny dipping?” Momo said.

“Yeah, except for Haru. You know how he lives in his swimsuit,” Makoto said. Momo was dragging Ai outside with him, leaving Makoto with the sound of running water and Sousuke.

“See you outside Gou,” Momo called over his shoulder, grinning.

“You know that if Rin spots you with your junk out anywhere around his little sister you’re going to end up losing it…?” Sousuke said, looking at Momo.

“Totally worth it!”

Sousuke shrugged. Makoto felt his glance shift to him, feeling the hairs on his arm prick up once more.

“What’s the matter with you anyway?”

“Nothing.” Makoto jumped when the floorboards creaked. Looking up he saw that Sousuke had simply shifted  
his weight, not even taken a step.

“Those floorboards, huh? Feels like you’re about to fall right through them or something—” _into some sort of nightmare labyrinth, full of ghosts and monsters and cobwebs and—ugh, no, stop it. This isn’t one of Nagisa’s shitty horror movies. Wait, why is he looking at me like that? I’m making a dumb face aren’t I?_

Sousuke was staring right at him with what ordinarily would be described as a ‘smouldering gaze’, at least that’s how it was in those books Gou kept making him read.  
“Wha— ?”

He was coming towards him, walking straight at him, floorboards creaking like bedsprings during a particularly energetic bout of— _what the hell kind of mental image is that! I—oh wait._

Sousuke was at the window. He’d pushed Makoto aside and was peering through the grimy pane at something in the trees. Makoto swallowed, wishing he could just sink through floorboards there and then, ghosts and cobwebs be damned.

“Thought I saw someone.”

“A-are you sure it wasn’t one of the others?” Makoto could feel his heart hammering away in his chest. Sousuke glanced at him. Makoto had the distinct impression that he was being judged.

“I’m going to go check.”

Makoto jumped back to avoid getting pushed out of the way. If it had been Haru he’d have been clinging to him, begging him not to go. It wasn’t even dark yet and he was already freaking out. Maybe someone had a paper bag he could breathe into. When Sousuke left the room Makoto forgot about all the strange odours and slid down against the wall, landing on his backside, pressed up against the rotting skirting-board. The only sound was the wind rustling the leaves outside, and the sound of Gou in the shower.

**** 

Nagisa was waving to him from the water near the bank, surrounded by reeds.

“It wasn’t a corpse, just a log. It all fell apart when Haru-chan touched it.” He looked disappointed, pouting like a child. Rei was floating about nearby. His clothes were folded neatly on the shore, alongside the jumble of clothing belonging to the others. Haru was right out in the middle of the lake, where the water looked dark and deepest. Rin was close by, seemingly striking out for deeper waters still. Momo and Ai were playing around in the shallows. There was no sign of Sousuke. Makoto walked along the edge of the lake, closer to Nagisa and Rei. From this angle he could see more of the trees around the back of the cabin, where the window Sousuke had been staring out of was located. Still nothing.

“You coming in too?” Nagisa said, splashing away from Makoto back out into the lake. Makoto shook his head.

“Did Yamazaki come past here?” he asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah he did. Looked sort of pissed off, but then again he always looks like that. He went around the back.”

“Well I can’t see him now.”

Nagisa was looking puzzled, but then a knowing sort of smile crept onto his lips. Nagisa had gotten somewhat savvy, or thought he had anyway, since he’d started sleeping with Rei.

“Would you stop pairing me up with people in your head. You’re worse than Gou. It’s nothing like that. He said he thought he saw someone outside, through the window.”

Rei, who had not been paying much attention so far, suddenly sat up. “What?”

“For real?” Nagisa looked sceptical.

“Well I wasn’t the one who saw it, so you’ll have to ask him when he comes back.”

“If he comes back,” Nagisa said in a low, spooky voice, crouching down so his chin almost touched the water.

“Why is nobody worried about this?”

“I’m worried about it,” said Rei, “but those windows are filthy. You can see, and I’m using the technical term here, jack shit through those things. That’s why it’s so dark in there.”

“I guess,” Makoto mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. He was looking at those two trees again, at the space between them. Something kept drawing his eyes back there, but there was nothing to see, at least not from this distance.

Makoto left Nagisa and Rei to each other, wandering back round the lake, past the piles of clothes, and closer towards the two trees. He managed to stub his toe on a rock hiding under the mud, so when he made it to the trees his foot was throbbing. As soon as he stepped between them an icy feeling took hold of him, running like electricity upwards from the pain in his foot all the way up his body and then it was gone. Makoto leant against the trunk of the closest tree. There was something in the tree, about eye-level. Makoto looked. A row of lines with another line crossed through them. Beneath this was another set of lines, another one cutting across them. A tally. Dozens of them, etched into the bark. Makoto moved back, pushing away from the tree. He caught sight of movement, out of the corner of his eye. Haru and Rin were in the middle of the lake, their heads turned in his direction. He waved to them, putting a bit more distance between himself and the trees. He wasn’t sure why he found it so sinister. For all he knew it was a tally of all the times some kid had got lucky out here. But that was the thing, he didn’t know.


End file.
